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Israel Claims it Killed Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah in Strikes on Beirut; Hurricane Helene Thrashes Southeast U.S. As Deaths Climb to 49-Plus; Lebanon's Health Minister Says Up to Half a Million Residents Displaced. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 28, 2024 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[06:00:33]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Good morning and welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, September 28. I'm Amara Walker alongside Danny Freeman. We begin this morning with major breaking developments in the Middle East.

The Israeli military claims it has killed the leader of Hezbollah after carrying out targeted airstrikes in Beirut. Israel says Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the terrorist organization, and several commanders were killed in a strike on what it says was Hezbollah's headquarters, though Hezbollah has not yet commented.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The announcement comes after more than a day of continuous air strikes by Israel on eastern and southern Lebanon. The explosions flattened buildings in a densely populated area. The IDF says those residential buildings housed has below weapons caches. According to the Lebanon's health ministry, at least six people were killed and dozens wounded in the strikes.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says Israel did not notify the U.S. about the strikes until they were underway. Sources say the lack of notice added to frustrations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Now, the news that Nasrallah has been killed is a significant development in this ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and we should stress Hezbollah still has not commented on these recent reports.

For more on this, let's go now to CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman in Beirut. Ben, what can you tell us? I believe we are waiting on a moment to get Ben back up. He is, of course, in Beirut for us. So in a moment, we'll get his shot up for you, just as we continue to follow this breaking news of Nasrallah's killing, at least, that's according to Israel and the IDF.

In a moment, we'll bring in Jim Sciutto. He's CNN senior international correspondent, but I guess for a moment, we'll just continue to talk about these claims that we've learned overnight in the past few hours of the fate of Israel's leader, excuse me, of Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. He was the secretary general of Hezbollah.

According to the IDF and Israel, was killed in these airstrikes that happened late on Friday. There was a long period of time where we did not know the fate of Nasrallah, and we still have been waiting on Hezbollah to comment and confirm this finding as well.

Jim Sciutto also spoke with the IDF in the past hour, interviewing them about this operation, and they gave a little bit more details. But this all comes as well after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke at the U.N. on Friday morning, giving stark warnings, basically to the region, saying that they would continue their fight against Hezbollah.

And also, as we've been monitoring and watching this ongoing war and conflict in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu gave no indication that a ceasefire was on the horizon. Then later in the afternoon, on Friday, we saw these attacks. And now this morning, the IDF confirming that the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has been killed. But again, we're still waiting for a comment from Hezbollah at this time.

This follows a number of airstrikes that have happened over the course of the past several hours in Israel. And again, you can see the images that we've been seeing from earlier this morning, inside of Beirut, inside of Lebanon, just continued bombardment, again, showing no signs at the moment of letting up, even though at this point the IDF is saying that the head of Hezbollah has been killed, has been eliminated.

I'll just check with our controller for a moment. We have either Ben Wedeman or Jim Sciutto at this time? I believe we have Ben Wedeman now up for us in Beirut. Good morning, Ben. Thank you so much for joining us.

And please, can you give us the latest from on the ground. I know it's been a long number of hours for you and for certainly, Lebanon, tell us what the latest is after the IDF is confirming that Nasrallah has been killed.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Of course, Hezbollah has yet to confirm, Danny, that Nasrallah has been killed, and we are waiting on for some sort of announcement from them.

[06:05:00]

But keep in mind that if he was indeed in that what Israel is calling their command center in the southern suburbs of Beirut, that strike flattened six buildings in that area, so he's probably under multiple layers of concrete, and given that that area has been under heavy fire since midnight last night by the Israeli war planes, that it's probably difficult to even conduct some sort of cleanup operation at that site.

So we don't know the fate of Hassan Nasrallah at this point, apart from Israel's claims that he was indeed assassinated, Danny. Otherwise, if you just look at the skyline behind me, you can see multiple locations where Israel hit overnight, between about 12:30 and 5 o'clock in the morning. There were steady explosions in the background, this night sky being lit up by the flashes of those strikes.

Now Israel's Arabic spokesman, the military spokesman, did put out a variety of tweets specifying buildings in southern Beirut that people should evacuate from and stay 500 meters away. But by my count, they put out six specific location warnings, but there were well over a dozen, probably almost two dozen, strikes during the night.

So those warnings were only partially effective, but the fact that the southern suburbs were being pounded so steadily, in addition to those warnings, what we saw was thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people streaming out of the southern suburbs of Beirut, which are the most popular -- densely populated parts of the city, essentially camping out on sidewalks and in parks in other parts of the city.

And we also saw on WhatsApp groups, people desperately -- local WhatsApp groups, people desperately asking for some sort of shelter in other places, schools, churches, mosques, even a football stadium opening up to provide some sort of safe place for people to stay. Danny.

FREEMAN: Ben, can you speak a little bit more about that? Just because we've been seeing these images of folks in Lebanon, it seems a number of them have been displaced. A number of them, you can imagine, are certainly concerned as these explosions and these rockets keep coming. Can you just shed some light on what's happening on the ground there?

WEDEMAN: Danny, I think to describe it as a number is a bit of an understatement. It's a huge number of people. Even before yesterday's events, officials here in Lebanon were talking of up to 500,000 people, half a million. That's just a little less than 10 percent of the population fleeing the Israeli bombing campaign in the south and the east.

And in fact, what we've just seen as Hezbollah has put out announcements with numbers telling people in certain various parts of Lebanon who they can contact if they want to leave the country and flee to neighboring Syria. So people in those areas that have been under severe Israeli bombardment are just looking for anywhere to go, whether it's outside of Lebanon, or just find any space, for instance, in Bay -- in West Beirut, there's what's called the Corniche. It's a broad Boulevard with a broad sidewalk by the sea.

We had our colleagues driving along there late last night, well early this morning, at about four o'clock in the morning, and what they saw were just people camped out with whatever they could take with them, sitting on the street trying to put their children to sleep under the circumstances. Others, sort of the adults, many of them, very concerned, change smoking, just wondering how they're going to survive this night, this week, God knows how long this conflict is going to go on.

Keep in mind, of course, that many of these people are coming from the poorest parts of Beirut. They have very little resources. Some of them don't even have a car or a motorcycle to get out of those areas. So it's a really desperate situation, and the Lebanese government, very limited resources, after a prolonged economic crisis, is trying to do what it can, but under the circumstances, and given the numbers we're talking about, that's very, very difficult. Danny.

FREEMAN: Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for that reporting. Please stay safe. Amara, back to you.

[06:10:00]

WALKER: All right, a lot of major developments here this morning on CNN. Let's talk more about it with CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger, first off, your reaction and just how significant this might be if it is confirmed that these military -- Israeli military, has killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, who is one of the founders of Hezbollah?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It would be a huge escalation. Nasrallah has run Hezbollah since 1982 and as a result, you know, one would have expected he would have been a target a long time ago, but the Israelis have usually stayed out of Beirut in their bombing efforts. They've been occasional shelling of Beirut, but not anything like we've seen in the past 24, 48 hours, and they have avoided going after the leadership.

Now, partly that was because he was hard to find, but partly that was because they understood what the escalatory ladder could look like, and frankly, that's the thing we need to worry about this weekend. We have seen that Hezbollah has aimed a few missiles, but not many, at Tel Aviv in the past few days, during the time that Israel is has moved now the focus of action from Gaza up to the north into Lebanon.

But you have to wonder whether or not their reaction to the killing of their longtime leader is going to be to try to attack directly at Israel's biggest population centers. So, you know, this is exactly what President Biden had been fearing for the year since October 7, that there would be some escalation to a much more regional war. And we're truly on the cusp of that right now.

WALKER: You know, I'm reminded of the comments that Antonio Guterres made at the UNGA that his concerns was seeing Lebanon turning into scenes that we've seen in Gaza, or turning into Gaza, is that even possible? And also when you hear from the Israeli army chief saying that this is not the end of our toolbox. What does that portend?

SANGER: Well, the toolbox has been on big display in the past week when you look back over the events of the last seven to 10 days. What you see is a steady escalation from the Special Forces attack inside Syria, quite daring attack to go in and blow up a significant factory where the Israelis believe, I think, probably rightly, that missiles were being assembled, including some high accuracy missiles for movement to Hezbollah. Then, of course, we saw the pager and walkie talkie attacks, which were aimed right at the leadership of Hezbollah and the rank and file. And now, of course, we have seen this. It does appear that Bibi Netanyahu has decided, Benjamin Netanyahu,

the Prime Minister of Israel, has decided two things, first of all, to ignore the United States, the G7 and other allies in their call for a ceasefire, because he believed that if he did that, he was going to lose his one opportunity to dismantle Hezbollah and then to turn around give the speech he gave yesterday, hard to believe that was only yesterday at the U.N. basically doubling down on the Israeli strategy. And then this killing of Nasrallah, if it gets confirmed, and certainly the attacks in southern Beirut followed almost hours after he was off the podium at the UN.

WALKER: What we're effectively seeing now David is a two front war being handled by Israel. How long could this go on for? And I guess that would require more help from the United States, I would imagine.

SANGER: Well, one would imagine at some point it would they've got a fair number of stores, but here's the critical issue, and it's obviously going to intersect with the presidential campaign pretty quickly, to give them more aid in this is to which I think United States would be tempted to do, because the U.S. has always tried to defend Israel and certainly preserve its right to exist.

But to provide more aid now would be to give them after Netanyahu has basically ignore the U.S. call for a ceasefire, and that would be, you know, the ultimate act of giving up the U.S. leverage.

[06:15:10]

Now, the critique of President Biden, particularly from the left in his own party, is that he has not used America's own leverage, and that leverage is, of course, the fact that the U.S. is the biggest supplier of arms and other aid to Israel. I think what you've heard from former President Trump is Israel will be back 200 percent, I don't think that Mr. Netanyahu would get much pressure from President Trump to back off.

What's truly remarkable right now is that at least according to what we've heard from the White House, which usually does at least a brief readout of calls between the President and the Prime Minister, is that over the past week or 10 days, as this has escalated, we have no evidence of even a conversation between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which tells you how little they have to say to each other right now.

WALKER: Yes, that is quite significant and concerning, especially for those watching this region. I do also want to mention David that we've been hearing from Israel's hostages, families forum, and as this escalation continues between Hezbollah and Israel, this group is calling for renewed efforts to free the remaining hostages held in Gaza. Obviously, that is something that the families and loved ones want to keep in the headlines, but right now, it doesn't look so optimistic, does it? David Sanger, we're going to leave it there. Thank you.

SANGER: Thank you,

WALKER: Danny.

FREEMAN: And we'll have more breaking news coverage on the possible death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after a quick break, stay with us. We'll be right back.

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[06:21:43

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning. Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv. This morning, Israel's army chief sent a stern message after a strike in Beirut Friday, which Israel now says killed the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. Israel said, quote, this is not the end of our toolbox, perhaps indicating there are other military steps to follow.

The Israeli military claims it killed Nasrullah as well as other Hezbollah commanders in an attack a massive one on building, several buildings in southern Beirut that was followed by attacks on missile storage facilities in Beirut. Hezbollah has yet to confirm the deaths of any of its leaders or commanders.

Officials are reporting at least six civilians have been killed dozens more injured as those Israeli strikes continue. Lebanon says more than 100,000 people have lost their homes due to recent Israeli attacks. However, the government believes the actual number of displaced people is likely higher.

CNN International diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is with me here in Tel Aviv as well. Nic, when I spoke to an IDF spokesperson in the last hour, he said all options remain on the table in terms of next steps, this has been quite a comprehensive series of operations, we should say, a number of Hezbollah commanders killed. Now the leader of Hezbollah the attacks, the pay the exploding pager attacks, as well as multiple attack strikes on missile facilities. What are the possible next steps?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DEPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the most immediate next step will be to thwart any potential strike on Israel, and obviously some of the smaller missiles Hezbollah claims to be firing into Israel today, there have been a small number that have been fired. They have impacted some places in the north of the country.

But what will most concern the IDF, as they scour the ground and looking for Hezbollah activity, will be is, are they trying to get ready to use their surface to surface missiles, the large ballistic missiles that would reach deep into Israel, central Israel, Tel Aviv, other densely populated areas like that. If they see those types of weapons systems being readied for use, they will immediately target them.

But as this has been something that's been in the planning now for almost 20 years, there will have been a sequence already thought through and calculated for a post-Hassan Nasrallah Hezbollah, and that will be in the in the shorter term, to try to make sure that the command and control which has been broken within Hezbollah can't be stood up, which means hitting any other commanders whom they are aware of, it will mean hitting the weapons supply, weapons storage facilities close to the border in the in the South of Lebanon, and it will be taking out deeper and bigger storage facilities elsewhere, perhaps in the Becker Valley and these sorts of places.

I think going forward the IDF and we heard from the Army Chief of Staff today saying that they were ready for offensive and defensive.

[06:25:05]

So in a way, those offensive operations are defensive because they are trying to stop strikes coming in. But we also know there's been a call up of a couple of battalions of reservists, perhaps a few 1,000 reserve troops were called up. There was video released by the IDF over the past 24 hours or so, with those reservists getting their equipment, pictures of them training along the border, pictures of the elite 98th Parachute Division training along the border over the last few days.

So the messaging is this to Hezbollah, that the IDF has ground forces available, I think they'll be reticent to use them, but certainly the imaging and the messaging is for Hezbollah, that if you stick your head up, then we're going to come for you, just to set the scene right at the border.

I was talking to an Israeli citizen very, very close to the Lebanese border about 15 or 20 minutes ago, right at the border, right at the border, he told me, it's actually quiet. The missiles are all going over their heads, and from a perspective from those border communities who want to go back home, he said, Trust by us, the border communities in the IDF to protect us that are so broken down, he said that has now been restored.

SCIUTTO: Nic, let me ask you about the message. You mentioned, the message to Hezbollah from Israel, the message to Iran, because the Israeli prime minister and his comments to the U.N. General Assembly noted Iran and made quite clear that Israel was prepared to strike Iran as well.

And I just wonder, when you speak to Israeli officials, not just in the last several hours, but last several days and weeks, when Israel says all options are on the table, do strikes, direct strikes on Iran? Are they included in that list of options?

ROBERTSON: They are included in that list of options. I certainly can't speak for the IDF, and I certainly can't speak for what political decisions would be made to cause them to use the weapon systems that they have available to target Iran. But what I can say, having talked to officials over the last few days, is they are confident that back in April, when Israel responded to Iran's barrage of 300 also missiles fired at directly for the first time, that Israel, when Israel responded, it only had a couple of strikes, but it feels confident that where they targeted in Iran successfully targeted. They believe that sent a very clear message to the Iranian leadership,

and they wouldn't say what those targets were, but the analysis has been that they were aired linked to air defense around sensitive nuclear production sites in Iran, and if the IDF analysis is correct, these sorts of operations have shown the Iranians what they're capable of and what they're thinking about. That messaging was strong.

So undoubtedly, it would seem at this stage, if Iran responded, as they did directly back in April, with a large number of missiles. It is those sorts of sites and facilities that Israel clearly has in its crosshairs. And I think there's another piece of information we can factor into this, Jim while, while Iran decides what to do, there is the possibility, and we don't have any confirmation on this, but there's a possibility that Hassan Nasrallah, while he was in that deep bunker where he was targeted, according to the IDF, successfully last night, he may well have been meeting with senior Iranian military commanders, and all of that may well factor into Iran's calculus about its next moves.

SCIUTTO: No question. Certainly, if senior Iranian commanders were killed in the Israeli strike, that would absolutely be a factor. And then, of course, the question arises as to what, whether the U.S. could, even against its will, be dragged into a larger conflict. Nic Robertson, thanks so much. As always.

Coming up, we're going to take a look at the impact, the broader impact, on the region of the killing, according to Israel, of Hassan Nasrallah, and the crucial question of who might take over leadership of Hezbollah. Now our breaking news coverage continues right after a quick break.

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[06:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to follow the breaking news out of Lebanon. Israel's military now says that its strike in Beirut on Friday has killed the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. The IDF says Nasrallah and other Hezbollah commanders were killed in strikes on residential buildings on Friday.

That strike that leveled in fact several residential buildings was followed by multiple strikes on weapons storage facilities. CNN's Jeremy Diamond, he's being standing by in Haifa in the northern part of Israel. Jeremy, the attention now on -- is on how and if and when Hezbollah might retaliate for this.

Have you seen any uptick in the number of rockets or other attacks from southern Lebanon into northern Israel?

[06:35:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we have seen Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel this morning in the hours since the Israeli military said that it had killed Hassan Nasrallah. But we have not really seen any kind of major uptick from Hezbollah, and we certainly have not seen what Israeli officials had been warning me for months.

They expect it to happen in the event of a major escalation in this conflict. And that is to say Hezbollah firing hundreds of rockets simultaneously at Israel, perhaps even thousands of rockets a day designed to overwhelm Israel's air defense systems including the Iron Dome, for example.

And so, we certainly are not seeing that, and it speaks of course, to the enormous blow that the Israeli military has dealt to Hezbollah over the course of the last two weeks. And that's not only just the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, but the killing of multiple other senior commanders in just the span of the last two weeks, effectively decimating much of Hezbollah's senior leadership.

And so, what it seems that we have is an organization that is very much in disarray, that is very much trying to figure out what its next steps will be. And also of course, the question of who will actually take over for Hezbollah if indeed Hassan Nasrallah is confirmed by other parties beyond the Israeli military to actually be dead.

This is definitely a major inflection point in this conflict on earth- shaking moments in this nearly year-long conflict. And we are also seeing that the killing of Hassan Nasrallah is not the last step in the Israeli military's campaign against Hezbollah. All morning, we have been hearing actually from our position to Haifa, which is, we should note some, you know, 25 miles away from the Lebanese border.

We can hear from here the power of some of those explosions rocking southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes into southern Lebanon as the Israeli military continues to strike Hezbollah targets there as well as targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut. They have clearly made a decision here to continue to go after Hezbollah assets to deal as much damage to this organization as it is in this moment of uncertainty and disorganization as they possibly can. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Jeremy, there was a call up of some reservists in Israel in the last week. And there's been some build-up of Israeli forces on the northern border there. An IDF spokesperson told me last hour that all options are on the table in terms of next steps, including ground operations inside Lebanon.

Could you describe the size to our knowledge of the Israeli force now positioned on the northern border? Is it -- and has it been growing significantly in your view in recent days?

DIAMOND: Well, the Israeli military has had a substantial force of troops along the northern border in the wake of October 7th. You'll remember that in those early days and weeks, Jim, there was even a question of whether at that time, the Israeli military would carry out a major offensive against Hezbollah, ultimately, the decision was made to not do so.

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, we've seen the 98th division, which was a major fighting force in Gaza being redirected to the northern border. And then as you mentioned, two reserve brigades being called up, that's a force of multiple thousands of troops being called up and sent to the northern border.

Actually yesterday, Jim, we were driving along the Israel-Lebanon border in northern Israel, and we saw an array of tanks and armored personnel carriers in a field off a highway in northern Israel that had only just recently arrived there. So, there is certainly a build- up happening. One thing that we don't have as much insight to, is whether that force is substantial enough to carry out a major offensive.

The likely answer that I've heard from sources is that it probably isn't yet that they would want to call up additional reservists, bring in additional forces before actually carrying out that offensive. But there's no question that they are actively preparing for the possibility of a ground offensive as we heard from the Israeli military Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevi earlier this week saying just that.

And we heard from him today, again, making clear that this was a major strike to take out Nasrallah, one that he believes was carried out at the right time, but that it is certainly not the last action that the Israeli military is going to carrying out. And he is going to carry out, and he said that Israel will carry out additional measures against Hezbollah in the days and weeks to come.

SCIUTTO: Of course, the size of the force might depend on the extent of Israeli intentions objectives with such an operation, and how far they might intend to go inside Lebanese territory. But of course, that remains an open question at this point. I wonder before we go, Jeremy, how Israeli officials described or how they respond to U.S. officials quite deliberately, putting distance between the U.S. and this strike on Nasrallah, particularly in the midst of U.S.-led negotiations on a potential ceasefire agreement.

[06:40:00]

And how do Israeli officials respond to the frustration we're hearing from inside the White House on Netanyahu's response or perhaps lack of response to U.S. pressure.

DIAMOND: From the officials that I've spoken to, I think that, you know, discontent from the United States is largely being cast aside at this moment in favor of what is really -- feels like a moment that's been decades in the making for Israelis, not just officials, but just Israeli citizens at large.

I mean, they view Hezbollah, of course, as a terrorist organization, they view Hassan Nasrallah as responsible for the killing of Israeli soldiers as well as Israeli civilians. Under Hassan Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah carried out terrorist attacks in other countries against Jewish community centers, notably one in Argentina in 1994 that killed some 85 people.

And so, I think the focus today in Israel is certainly one of, you know, joy and a feeling of success at having been able to kill this leader who was known for his secrecy, who hadn't been seen in public in years, and really thought that he was able to avoid detection from Israeli surveillance and other covert operations.

And yet, clearly, he was not. You know, yesterday, you know, I had a U.S. defense official reach out to me, unprompted, and tell me that the Israelis had not given them an appropriate heads-up on this strike in Beirut, and they were certainly upset about that and wanted to telegraph that message publicly.

I spoke to an Israeli official afterwards who simply responded with an Israeli flag. That is the sentiment, the sense that Israel needed to carry this out and has done so now successfully according to the Israeli military.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I heard quite similar comments from U.S. officials yesterday, a deliberate effort to put daylight between the U.S. and Israel on this strike. Jeremy Diamond in Haifa in northern Israel, thanks so much. Our breaking news coverage continues, we'll be right back.

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DANNY FREEMAN, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: This morning, there are life-threatening conditions and immediate mandatory evacuations for a portion of Tennessee.

[06:45:00]

AMARA WALKER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Yes, this is all happening as Helene continues to threaten several communities across the southeast. We want to show you a snapshot of what rescuers, residents and officials are dealing with, even though Helene is now a post tropical cyclone.

Authorities in Tennessee sounded the alarm about the imminent threat of the Nolichucky Dam failing due to extreme rainfall. Meanwhile, the death toll has now reached at least 49 across five states. Historic flooding in Asheville, North Carolina has parts of the city submerged. And you can see a roof floating there.

A curfew is still in effect for residents there at this hour as well, and power crews are feverishly trying to restore electricity to nearly 3.5 million people across a number of states. At least, six deaths have been reported in North Carolina and Asheville residents are still under a 12-hour curfew for about another hour.

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, the city says that curfew will stay in effect until further notice. Take a look at this drone videos captured dramatic images of people driving through massive flooding that has just engulfed Asheville. Emergency responders have been working overtime, this cleanup work also begins.

CNN correspondent Isabel Rosales joins us now from Asheville. Isabel, yesterday, you brought some striking images of an overwhelmed storm system. What are you seeing right now where you are?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Danny, Amara, good morning to you. The good news here is that those dramatic scenes that we saw yesterday have gotten better, in the sense of the flood water has dramatically receded. So, we're seeing roads just like this in the background sections that have dried out, but still so many roads here in Nashville that are in passable.

This is going to be a long recovery for the residents here in Asheville and Buncombe County. The river, the Swannanoa River, just a couple of blocks away from here crusted yesterday, breaking records, rising to over 27 feet. Now, the Swannanoa River and the French Broad River here passing through Asheville, they are still at a major flood stage.

Meaning, this is still problematic, meaning that there are structures, homes, businesses underneath the water roads that residents don't have access to. Now, Asheville saw historic and catastrophic flooding, and that was for two reasons, even before Helene came, they had a major rain, a system come through leading to flooding.

This was a one in a 1,000-year event and then came Helene, and that certainly didn't make things any better. I want to go back to that drone footage because this is the first time we're seeing the extent of the damage felt here in Asheville. You can see entire businesses up to the roof just underneath the floodwaters, cars underneath the flood waters.

And then strange debris that we saw throughout the day just floating in the waters, from furniture to propane tanks to Whiskey barrels, just very strange things there that are also dangerous. This is why police have taped off the area, not allowing people to go through there. I spoke with a few Asheville residents that are concerned, they have environmental concerns about potential contaminants, pollutants in the water.

And sure enough, through our drone footage, we did see oil sheens there in all of that water. Listen to other concerns shared by these residents.

WALKER: All right, Isabel Rosales, we're going to leave it there, thank you so much. Really tough situation there in Asheville, North Carolina. For more information about how you can help Hurricane Helene victims, go to cnn.com-slash-impact.

FREEMAN: Still ahead, we'll take you back to the Middle East, thousands of people are fleeing Lebanon as airstrikes continue across the country. We'll look at the humanitarian impact of the conflict after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Jim Sciutto live in Tel Aviv. Lebanon's Health Ministry now says that Israeli strikes have displaced as many as half a million people inside Lebanon. This follows recent violence, including of course, those massive blasts that hit a heavy populated area of Beirut. Israel confirming this morning that it believes those strikes have killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. CNN international reporter Nada Bashir joins us now from London. I

wonder, Nada, can you walk us through what this has meant for the civilian population of Lebanon, both in the southern part of the country, but in Beirut as they flee what has been a series of strikes, not just on Nasrallah, but also on these weapons storage facilities.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Jim, for months now, we have seen civilians forced from their homes in southern Lebanon because of the ongoing cross-fire and targeting of southern Lebanon by the Israeli military, around a 100,000 believed to have been forced to have fled their homes already prior to this escalation that we are seeing now.

But as you mentioned, this has -- the situation has worsen and we're seeing these strikes and bombings deepening around the capital in Beirut. And it's important to underscore that these areas that we are seeing being struck by the Israeli military are densely-populated areas. They are filled with civilians.

We saw a series of strikes targeting the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, this is an area crammed with tall apartment buildings filled with civilians, with families and children. So, you can imagine the catastrophe impact --

[06:55:00]

WALKER: Yes --

BASHIR: This has had on the civilians living in this area, living in the city, but also of course, for a country that is already been through so much, not only its history, of course, of wars brought on Lebanon, but also of course, just in the last few years, we've seen --

WALKER: Yes --

BASHIR: A severe economic crisis which has really pushed many to the brink of desperation in Lebanon. Then of course, in August 2020, we saw the Beirut port blast. Again, a huge amount of trauma surrounding that for the Lebanese capital and those living there. And now, of course, we are seeing a fully-fledged war taking place in Lebanon, forcing so many to flee their homes for their own safety and protection.

Our teams on the ground, our correspondent Jomana Karadsheh was in Beirut last night saw firsthand the huge number of civilians, of families and children essentially sleeping on the streets in central parts of Beirut for their safety and protection, fearing that their apartment buildings could be struck.

As you mentioned, the Health Ministry now saying they believe around 500,000 people have been internally in the space. So, this is a hugely desperate situation for a city that has already been through or a country that has already been through so much.

SCIUTTO: Listen, of course, there's the immediate question of how many civilians were killed, particularly in the strike that struck Nasrallah's compound there. I spoke to Israeli officials earlier today, they say they still have not made an estimate of such civilian casualties. Nada Bashir in London, thanks so much.

And we will be back next hour with more on our breaking news, please do stay with us.

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